The perfect horse has a skeleton that’s symmetrical and balanced according to all the facts learned about what is correct and what is good. Anything else is considered an angular deformity, such as varus, valgus, parallel displacement, rotations, a broken-forward axis or a broken-back axis.

The skeletal impact of these deviations can alter both movement and weight bearing, which in turn leads to imbalance and injury. Conformational deviations in the horse’s legs are typically analyzed leg by leg and joint by joint. Sometimes deviations are overlooked or described as “no more than expected.”

They may be noted in pre-purchase vetting or in its medical history following a lameness. When reading radiographs of the hoof-pastern axis, we pay particular attention to the angles between the distal phalanx and ground surface and the spacing within the joints.

Many farriers try to distribute the load in each leg with different types of therapeutic fitting, based on the specific leg deviations and strive for the ideal. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it’s a great skill to have, but the ideal individual sadly exists only in…